Boom-bucket-control mechanism for concrete-distributing apparatus



Oct. 15, 1929. E, WEBE, 1,731,691

BOOM BUCKET CONTROL MECHANISM FOR CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FiledJune 15, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet l Y Gtbouuqt G. E. WEBB Oct. 15, 1929.

BOOM BUCKET CONTROL MECHANISM FOR CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FiledJune 15, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Oct. 15, 1929. G. E. WEBB BOOM BUCKETCONTROL MECHANISM FOR CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Filed June is,1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Tic-.1

gwuzntoz flea/gel. Mfebb a i i Oct. 15, .1929. WEBB 1,731,691

BOOM BUCKET CONTROL MECHANISM FOR CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FiledJune 15, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 E 727 III IIIIPIIIII 6601761? Wbb 0a;15', 1929. G. E. WEBB 1,731,691

BOOM BUCKET CONTROL MECHANISM'FOR CONCRETE DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS FiledJune 15, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Oct. 15, 1929 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. WEBB, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR TO. KOEHRING COMPANY,OF -MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATION IBOOMFBUCKET-CONIROIJ MECHANISMFOR CONCRETE-DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS Application filed June 15,

The present invention appertains to the art of concrete distributingapparatus or avers of the well known Koehring boom and bucket type, andrelates particularly to improvements in bucket control mechanismstherefor.

The mechanisms hereinafter depicted represent radical departures fromthe customary instrumentalities by which the distributing bucket ismoved to and froalong the boom of the paver and the door thereof isactuated in its opening and closing movements. Whereas these mechanismsheretofore have embodied a complication of clutch devices,

cable operating means, knock-out and trip instrumentalities, etc., thepresent improvements are characterized by a markedly simplifiedarrangement of devices with accompanying facility of manipulation andcontrol.

In carrying out the invention, instead of the usual intermittentlyoperated or reversing cable control, there is here provided acontinuously moving endless cable actuator with which a cable gripmechanism cooperates to eifect traverse of the bucket along the boom inopposite directions.

The mechanism also embodies a novel type of door operating mechanismcoacting in a. peculiar manner with theboom to produce the positiveopening and closing movements of saiddoor incident to travel of thebucket along the boom.

For a full. understanding of the invention, reference is to be had tothe accompanying drawings wherein 1 Figure 1 is aside elevation of theboom and bucket mechanism forming the subject matter of this invention;Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the ,bucket and the door operatingmechanisms therefor, the door of the bucket being shown in its openposition and as it is about to be tripped for closing, just prior toreturn to the charg-' ing position at the inner end of the boom; Figure3 is a transverse sectional vlew through the boom on the line 3-3 ofFigure" 1927. Serial No. 199,042.

Figure 4 is a detail view of the trip arm carried by the boom by whichthe door actuating iustrumentalities are rendered operative\to produceclosing movement of the door;

member for yieldingly holding the rotatable friction wheel used in thismechanism in cooperative relation to the boom;

Figure 6 is a longitudinal section of the inner end of the boom, showingmore clearly the details of the manipulative control means which causesthe operation of the cable grip commencementof the closing movement ofthe door; I

Figure 10 is a similar view, showing the position taken when the door isfully closed and the bucket returned to its innermost limit of movementon the boom;

Figure 11 is a" detail view of the cable grip cam;

' Figure 12 'is a detail view of one of the cable grip levers;

Figure 5 1s a detail view ofv a supporting Figure 13 is a detail viewshowing one of the cable clamps; and

' Figure 14 is a detail view of one of the complemental sections of acable clamp.

Like reference numeralsdesignate corresponding parts throughout theseveral figures of the drawing.

Referring to'the drawings,A designates the frame of the paver apparatus,B a portion of the mixing drum, and'C the dischar e chute therefor.v Theboom D which is of t e conventional form and provided with verticaladjusting means as well as means for hers G-G on the lower flanges ofwhich the trolley wheels H operate. From the trolley I is swung thedistributing bucket J, the hollow head casting K of which is mountedupon the longitudinal pivot L.

At this point it is believed desirable to de-= scribe the main featureof these improvements, namely the bucket operating mechanism by means ofwhich the bucket J is caused to traverse the boom. Power for thispurpose is taken preferably from the drum ring gear B with which apinion 1 meshes. Through this pinion, motion is transmitted to the shaft2 and drive gear 4 mounted on the stub shaft 5; Upon one side of thisdrive gear is formed a groved pulley 6 about which passes the endlesscable 7 which is trained around the spaced guide sheaves 8 carried bythe inner end of the boom, the two horizontally disposed reaches of thecable extending along beneath the boom to the point sheave 9. This cablehas imparted to it the continuous motion of the drum, though it is to beunderstood that such correspondingcontinuous motion might readily betaken direct or otherwise indirectly from the prime mover and thereforeI do not wish to be limited in this regard.

Motion from this cable is transmitted to the bucket at will throughcertain cable grip mechanism now to be set forth. Mounted to extend thefull operative length of the boom and between its channel members -is'asquare 2 shaft 10. Figures 6 and 8.show the. outer end of the shaft tobe disposed 'in a rotatable i bushing 11 mounted in the bracket12 whichconnects the outer ends of the boom channel members together and itsinner end is similarly mounted in the bushing 11-"-"c'arried by theinner bracket 12'. At this end the shaft carries a bevel pinion l3-whichmeshes with vertical shaft 15, which in turn carries an operating member16, in this form a sprocket wheel which is designed to be operated' byany manipulative means (not shown) to impart a rocking motion to thecontrol shaft 10. It

will be observed that the shaft 15 is disposed in vertical alignmentwith the boom pivot E so that turning movement of the boom wouldtransmit motion to the sprocket chain which would lead from the sprocket16 to a corresponding sprocket, for example on theoperators platform;but rocking motion of the shaft would only beobtained. by a relativemovement of the shaft 15 underthe control of manipulative means at thecommand of the operator. a

Rocking of the shaft 10 operates a cam 17, a detail of which isillustrated in Figure 11. -This cam is provided with opposing trunnions18 and is broached to slidingly receive a corresponding pinion 14 onvtheend of the the shaft 10. It is mounted between the spaced uprights 19.forming part of the connecting web between the two side members 20 ofthe trolley I, one of the trunnions 18 being grooved at 18'to receive aretaining screw 18". Thus in the movement of the trolley and its bucket,this cam slides along'the shaft and is always in position to cooperatewith the adjacent finger levers 21, one at each side of the cam, pivoteda t 22 on the web. Each of these fingers coaets with a grip member orblock seated in a recess in the web portion of the trolley andspecifically shown in Figures 13 and 14: to comprise complementalinterengaging sections 23-23, formed to embrace the cable 7 passingtherethrou'gh. Since one of these blocks embraces the outgoing reach ofthe cable and the other the incoming reach, it is readily understoodthat by a grip action of one or the other, the cable movement will shiftthe bucket in one direction or the other along the boom as the cam 17 isturned by the shaft 10 to actuate the respective finger levers 21. Themovement of the bucket may be discontinued at any time in its travel bysimply restoring the controlling cam to its normal upright positon shownclearly in Figure 3.

Passing now to the bucket door operating mechanism, and referring toFigures 1 and 2, the bucket J is provided with a swing door 24 suspendedby the two arms 25-26 and weighted at its upper edge at27 tocounterbalance. The rear edge of the bucket opening', as shown in Figure2, has secured thereto a flexible scraper 28 which removes any materialtending to adhere to the surface of the door as it swings into openposition and insures tight closure when the door swings back to closedposition. To the arm 25 is connected the actuating rod 29 having at itsconnecting end the cushioning spring 30 within a casing shaft 37journa'led in the outer end of a supporting lever 38, which inturn ispivoted at 39 in the hollow head casting K of the bucket. With the innerend of the lever 38, a spring 40 coacts and tends to yieldably hold theshaft I 37 at its elevated position, this position being, adjustablydetermined by an adjustable stop screw 41.

Upon the shaft 37 is fixedly mounted'the friction wheel 42, theperipheral portion of which is formed with interruptions or "opposingflat portions 42 and 42 The periphery of the wheel is provided withsuitable friction material. Interlocked with the shaft and the wheel isa trip lever 43 extending in opposed relation to thecrankarm 36. It

is the function of this friction wheel to opcontents of the bucket,;Ihave provided for a' crate in contact with the under surface of theadjacent boom channel member asthe bucket J travels along the boom andby its rotativc movement to shift the bucket door 24, as will now bemore clearly set forth.

of movement a trip arm 44' secured to the boom, depends.- It is to benoted that the flat portion 42 is uppermost and slightly spaced from theboom so that the wheel 42 is out of contact and stationary. Immediatelythe trip lever 43 impinges the arm 44, the shaft 37 is turned in itsbearing, causing the true periphery of the wheel 42 to contact with thesuperposed boom flange, as shown distinctly in Figure 9, marking thecommencement of the closing movement of the bucket door, the

rotary motion of the wheel being transmitted through the parts 36, 35,34, 32,- 31 and 29 to the door lever 25.

When theflat portion. 42 is reached, as shown in Figure 10, rotation ofthe wheel is discontinued and the door has reached its closed position,The movement aforesaid brought a oneway acting pawl 45 carried by thewheel 42 into cooperative relation with the boom with which it hasbiting engagement. The bucket is now charged with another load ofmaterial and then by means of the cable grip mechanism hereinbeforedescribed it is moved outwardly along the boom until the desired pointis reached, whereupon the operator reverses the cable grip so as to beefi'ective upon the incoming reach of the cable. In the outward movementthe pawl 45 simply slides along the surface of the boom Without anyoperative eiiect, but upon reverse of the travel the biting engagementmentioned shifts the wheel 42 sufii'ciently to bring the true peripheryat its opposite side from that referred to above into contact with theboom and the continuation of this inward travel moves the bucket doorinto open posivents any reverse of such movement which might possiblyallow the wheel 42 to accivariable opening of the bucket door. To thisend the crank 31 and its connection with the rod 29 are formed with aseries of apertures 31. The number provided in the illustratedconstruction will permit of three difi'erent degrees of opening of thedoor such as shown in the full and dotted positions of Figure 2 of thedrawings.

The door 24 has a movement: in the plane of its body, or that of theopening of the bucket which it closes. Also as it floats, so to speak,to and from closing positions there is caused slight movement lateral tosuch plane. This ensures tight closing especially and the lattermovement is obtained by the linkage mounting of the door and the greaterlength of the arm or link 26 as compared withthat of the arm or link 25.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by ters Patent is 1. In combination, a boom, a bucketreciprocally traversing said boom, and means to move said bucketrelative to the boom comprising a continuously moving actuating memberand a power means'for driving the continuously actuated member.

2. In combination, a boom, a distributing element to traverse said boom,an actuator continuously moving along the boom, and control means "forcausing the distributing element to at will partake of the movement ofthe actuator.

3. In combination, a boom, a distributing bucket to traverse said boom,an operating cable, means for actuating said cable, and

,cable grip means for positively engaging the cable and transmitting itsmotion to the bucket. v v

- 4. in combination, a boom, a distributing bucket to traverse saidboom, an operating cable endless in form and having its reachesextending outwardly and inwardly of the boom, means for actuating saidcable, and cablev grip means arranged to engage either of the reaches ofthe cable and to impart either outward or inward movement of the bucketrelative to the boom.

5. In concrete distributing apparatus, a

boom, a carriage movable along said boom, a

distributing bucket supported by said carriage, an endless cable havingits reaches extending along the boom in spaced relation, a cable gripmechanism carried by said cartriage, and control means for causingengagement of said grip mechanism with one or the other of the cablereaches to thereby control the direction of movement of the bucket.

6. In concrete distributing apparatus, a boom, a carriage movable alongsaid boom, a

distributing bucket supported by said carriage, a cable mounted to haveoutward and inward movement relative to the boom, cable grip means onsaid carriage, and control means operable to effect engagement of thegrip means with the cable to impart outward or inward movement to thebucket;

7. In concrete distributing apparatus, a

\ mixing drum, a boom, a carriage to traverse said boom, a bucketsupported by said car riage, an endless cable driven from said drum andextending along the boom, and cable grip means carried by the carriageand operable to effect reverse movements of the bucket from said cable.

8. In concrete distributing apparatus, a boom, a carriage movable alongsaid boom, a distributing bucket supported by said carriage, a cablemounted to have outward and inward movement relative to the boom, cablegrip means 'on said carriage, and control means operable to eflectengagement of the grip means with the cable to impart outward or inwardmovement to the bucket, including an actuating cam and manual operatingmeans for shifting said cam to render the grip means operable on thecable.

9. In concrete distributing apparatus, a boom, a carriage movable alongsaid boom, a distributing bucket supported by said carriage, an endlesscable having its reaches extending along the boom in spaced relation, :1cable grip mechanism carried by said carriage, including a grip membercooperative with each reach of the cable, and control means disposedbetween said grip members and operable upon one or the other dependingupon whether the bucket is to be moved inwardly or outwardly of theboom.

10. In concrete distributing apparatus, a boom, a carriage movable alongsaid boom, a distributing bucket supported by said carriage, anendlesscable having its reaches ex tending along the boom in spaced relation,:1

cable grip mechanism carried by said carriage including a grip membercooperative with each reach of the cable, a rock shaft extendinglongitudinally of the boom, and a cam member slidingly mounted on saidshaft between the gri .members and adapted to engage one or t e other ofthe same'when the shaft is rocked to thereby render the bucket operableby the cable.

In testimbny whereof I afiix my. signature. GEORGE E. WEBB.

